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As autumn days get shorter and colder the interest turns to shorter hikes. On November 2 Roger Gagne and I went up to the top of Owl's Head on Cherry Mountain. I noticed that the trail was now part of the new Coho Trail stretching across the North Country of New Hampshire from the White Mountains to the Quebec border. The Coho Trail takes advantage of little-used existing trails and this is one of them. It was marked by occasional discreet signs saying "CT" (left). At the top of Owl's Head there was no one to take our picture (we didn't see anyone all day) but I took this interesting shot (right) looking to the south.

Two weeks later on November 16 Roger, Peter Wyatt, and I did our major last hurrah with a hike up the Crawford Path to Pierce and on to Eisenhower. There was snow on the ground at the trailhead and more as we went up but it had been tamped down by previous hikers. At the intersection with the Mitzpah Connector we saw a couple of hungry grey jays (left). They are regular sights near 4.000 feet at the end of the season when they look for food to stash for the winter. We got to the top of Pierce with great winter views toward Eisenhower and Mt. Washington (right).

From there we continued on the Crawford Path toward Eisenhower but we were now out of the beaten path and left to make our own tracks in the fresh snow, sometimes knee-deep (left). Fortunately the snow was dry and powdery so the going was easy. The sky was deep blue, there was not a breath of wind, and it started getting warm - so unusual! The views were splendid (right).

We got to the top of Eisenhower amid snowdrifts (left). There was quite a crowd at the top of Eisenhower (some had come up the other side by the Edmands Path). We got our picture taken (right) and basked in the warmth for a while before coming down. A fine way to end the season, although we're now talking about going up Ammonoosuc Ravine in January...